A few weeks ago (okay, when I started this post it was a few weeks ago... not it was a few months ago) our good friends Tally and Jessie Price came down to visit us in Chile. We packed a lot into the week they were here and it was so fun to have them. They came without their kids, whom we missed very much, but I think they enjoyed their little break. Every parent needs one every once in a while!
Our first stop was Mendoza, Argentina. Jessie and Tally were amazing. They got off their 10 hour red-eye from the States and hopped right onto a 7 hour bus ride to Mendoza. Luckily the bus was nice and they were able to sleep most of the time. Still, it made for a long day. The bus ride from Santiago to Mendoza offered some beautiful views of the mountains.
There was definitely still some snow up there, but surprisingly to me the mountains were barren of any vegetation. I guess the elevation is too high for anything to grow. It was still pretty, but it made me miss the beautiful canyons of Utah and my own Nevada City mountains. The kids did great on the bus. I was pretty miserable because I had a bad cold and the elevation changes did a number on my ears. We had to stop at the boarder for about 30 minutes and while we were there we bought some Argentine choripan sandwiches. They were very yummy, much better than Chilean choripan (shhh... don't tell anyone I said that). We were all thrilled when we finally made it to Mendoza. We rented a huge home.
It was a little old but in good condition and it worked much better for us (and cheaper) than a hotel room. We hardly ever stay in hotels anymore, especially overseas. We love using vrbo.com. If you've never tried it, you will be amazed by the deals you find over common hotels. The first order of business in Mendoza was to EAT. Many people told us about the delicious meat in Mendoza and we wanted to find out if they were right. We decided to try the most recommended Parilla in town, Don Miguel. It was a 10 minute taxi ride from our house.
We had to take 2 cabs because there were 6 of us. The Connellys went in one cab and the Prices in another. We arrived first and waited for Jessie and Tally to come. After 10 minutes passed we started to get a little worried. Jess and Tal didn't have a phone and we hadn't exactly planned what we should do if we were separated. Five minutes later we were relieved to see them pull up only to find out they had almost been kidnapped! Or at least it felt that way. Their cab driver took them through some sketchy looking areas and then "broke down" in the middle of some random neighborhood. They were pretty worried since it was late at night and they were obviously gringos. We have been so used to Santiago being safe that we hadn't thought twice about Argentina. You always have to be on your guard in big cities, but we have never had a problem in Chile. Of course Tally and Jessie's first real experience in South America would be this one! Tally stepped out of the car to see what was going on and forced Jessie to stay inside (in case he got in a knife fight?). Luckily, the cab really had broken down. The driver wasn't trying to pull a fast one on them, that we know of. He got the car started again after 10 minutes and they got back on the road. Seriously though, what would have happened if he was crooked? We don't want to scare anyone though. Like I said, we have never had a problem before or since and you just have to use a little extra precaution down here.
Once we all made it inside the restaurant, ordered and got our food we found out exactly why everyone raves about the meat here. It was AMAZING.
I cannot stress enough how good it was. Best. Steak. Ever. mmmmm.... I'm drooling just thinking about it. They do everything right when raising the cattle in Argentina. Feed them grass, give them plenty of room to roam, no hormones. It makes for some seriously good steak. I think it make the whole 24 hour trip and the scary cab ride worth if for Jessie and Tally! After dinner we had some delicious ice cream and headed home to sleep.
The next day in Mendoza was spent sight-seeing. We started off the day by finding a little German pastry shop and eating way more yummy calories than we should have accompanied by some fresh fruit.
This trip has a lot of good eating memories. We then walked around the city and took it all in. Jessie took hundreds of pictures and Jay had a great time following her around and taking similar shots with our camera. I love going on trips with the Prices because we always have so many wonderful pictures!
We enjoyed walking around San Martin Park. It is a huge park in the center of Mendoza and even has a lake in the middle. It reminded us a lot of Parque Retiro in Madrid. There was a little street fair in the middle of the park with all sorts of fun things for sale. Unfortunately, the chocolate we bought wasn't as good as we were told it would be. People in Chile raved about Argentine chocolate, but maybe we're just too biased after trying the chocolate in Switzerland.
After seeing the park we had lunch. We all had to try the typical Argentine dish, Milanesa. It's a very thin steak dipped in egg, breaded and fried. Very similar to Shnitzel. It was delicious! I especially like the Milanesa Nepoltiana which is a Milanesa with ham, tomato sauce and melted cheese on top.
After lunch we walked around the rest of town and stopped at another park that had a big playground for Jay. It was definitely not up to U.S safety standards, but we still had fun. We even found some bootleg videos for sale.
That night we had a yummy dinner and then Jess and I took a picture with some local policia on our walk back to the house.
I took the kids home to sleep since they were exhausted from a day of sightseeing while Jessie, Tally and Mike went in search of a tango show.
They didn't exactly find a show, but they found a dance club and watched some regulars tango instead. Jessie even danced with a cute old man for a few songs.
The next morning we saw a little more of Mendoza then we headed back to the bus station for the long ride home. Riding home was actually a pretty cool experience because we had the front top four seats on the bus. It made for some awesome views! The bus company we took on the way back, Cata, was much nicer too.
Over the pass Jay was pretty cold so Jessie lent him her coat!
Back in Santiago we hung out for a few days and even had dinner out with just the four of us one night. We also took a group salsa lesson. Jessie and Tally saw the city on their own one day and even made it to the Santiago temple.
Since we wanted to pack as much as we could into the short week they were with us we decided, why not head to the beach in Vina del Mar too? Mike actually had to be there anyway because it was the Chilean bicentennial holiday and there was a huge naval show happening that he had to support. It worked out perfectly because he didn't end up having to work too much and we found an apartment to rent for under his per diam that fit all of us. The apartment was amazing! It was new, huge and had some amazing views of the ocean. It was only a block from the beach and in the middle of all the action. We were able to watch the whole naval show including fireworks from our balcony.
We had a great time together in Vina. It was beautiful and there was a lot happening for the bicentennial.
We played at the beach, ate lots of food and just had fun being together.
We had such a great time with Tally and Jessie and are so glad they came to see us. We can't wait to see them again soon!
